Reuters
London, Jan 2: Chelsea and Manchester City ended a memorable first day of 2015 locked together at the top of the Premier League as City’s dramatic 3-2 win over Sunderland was followed by a shock 5-3 defeat for Chelsea against Tottenham Hotspur here Thursday.
Chelsea, previously beaten only once this season, were blown away by their effervescent London rivals with inspired front man Harry Kane scoring twice and setting up two more goals. To rub in the pain for Chelsea fans it was former hero Frank Lampard who came off the bench to give City their victory after they had thrown away a 2-0 lead for the second time in a week.
When the dust settled on a day of drama that underlined why the Premier League remains the most watched domestic competition in the world, City and Chelsea were on 46 points from 20 games with an identical goal difference of plus-25 having both scored 44 goals.
Manchester United are third on 37 points after a 1-1 draw at Stoke City, Southampton occupy fourth spot on 36 after beating Arsenal 2-0, with Spurs up to fifth on 34. Diego Costa put Chelsea ahead but rampant Spurs surged back with goals by Kane, Danny Rose and an Andros Townsend penalty to lead 3-1 at halftime.
Kane fired his second goal seven minutes after the restart and though Eden Hazard pulled one back, Nacer Chadli completed a joyous day for a hugely impressive Spurs with the fifth goal 12 minutes from time before John Terry got a late third for Chelsea.
The result completed a remarkable change in fortunes for Man City who, after dropping points at home to Burnley Sunday, again allowed a 2-0 lead to slip in a blizzard of second-half goals. Yaya Toure and Stevan Jovetic put them 2-0 up before City old boys Jack Rodwell and Adam Johnson, with a penalty, made it 2-2.
Lampard then sailed to the rescue, as he has done so often this season, by heading the winner — the fourth goal in a crazy eight-minute spell — three minutes after coming on as a 70th-minute substitute. The league’s bottom two, Leicester City and Burnley, came from behind to draw 2-2 at Liverpool and 3-3 at Newcastle United respectively.
There were also draws for two clubs with new managers as Crystal Palace ended 0-0 with Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion finished 1-1 with West Ham United. The only winners in the bottom half of the table were Hull City whose 2-0 home success over Everton was a fourth successive defeat for the visitors.
